The House of Lords. To spread legislative workload more evenly between the two Houses a sizeable proportion of all Bills begins in the House of Lords

To spread legislative workload more evenly between the two Houses a sizeable proportion of all Bills begins in the House of Lords. By convention the Lords do not reject legislation on matters which were in the Government’s manifesto (election pledge). The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it. *

The stages of a Bill in the House of Lords are pretty much the same as those in the House of Commons. At the Committee stage instead of going to a small committee for a detailed examination Bills usually go to a Committee of the Whole House, and any Lord who is interested can contribute. The detailed deliberation of a Bill provides a sort of a safety net in case there is a problem which nobody has spotted before.

Any changes made to a Bill in the House of Lords have to be considered in the House of Commons, for which purpose they are taken back to the lower chamber. The Commons normally accept most of the Lords’ amendments which are non-controversial. At times a Bill can go to and fro for a while, a process known as ‘ping-pong’, until an agreement can be reached. If the two Houses are unable to compromise, the Commons will eventually get its way by reintroducing the Bill the following year.